Students of Ariake-nishi Gakuen School wear protective face masks, following the outbreak .
TOKYO, Feb 28 (NNN-AGENCIES) — Japan’s entire school system, from elementary to high schools, will be asked to close from Monday until spring break late in March to help contain the coronavirus outbreak, Prime Minister Shinzo Abe said.
The dramatic escalation of Japan’s fight against the virus follows rising criticism of what has been seen as a lukewarm government response.
“This coming week or two are an extremely important period,” Abe told a coronavirus task force.
“Prioritising children’s’ health and safety above everything else, we will ask all the elementary, junior high and high schools across Japan to temporarily close from March 2 to spring break.”
The Japanese school year ends in March, with spring vacation usually starting the last week of the month.
The number of cases in Japan rose on Thursday to more than 200, up from the official tally of 186 late on Wednesday. On the main northern island of Hokkaido, 15 new cases, including two children under the age of 10, were confirmed.
The government has urged that big gatherings and sports events be scrapped or curtailed for two weeks to contain the virus while pledging that the 2020 Summer Olympics will go ahead in Tokyo.
Abe got support from the International Olympic Committee as its head, Thomas Bach, told Japanese media the IOC is “fully committed” to holding the Games on schedule. Bach told a conference call the committee “is fully committed to a successful Olympic Games in Tokyo starting July 24,” Kyodo News reported.
Abe’s sudden announcement about schools set off a flurry of worries on social media among parents now scrambling to arrange childcare.
The cases reported in Japan do not include 705 reported from an outbreak on the Diamond Princess cruise liner that was quarantined off Tokyo earlier this month.
A man in his 80s died in Hokkaido after contracting the coronavirus, the prefectural government said, bringing the total number of people who have died in Japan to eight, including four from the ship.
The woman who tested positive twice, a resident of Osaka, in western Japan, tested positive on Wednesday after developing a sore throat and chest pains, the prefectural government said in a statement. The woman in her 40s first tested positive in late January and was discharged from hospital on Feb. 1 after recovering, according to the statement.
Though a first known case for Japan, second positive tests have been reported in China – one on Feb. 21 – where the disease originated late last year.
The outbreak has spread rapidly and widely, infecting about 80,000 people globally and killing nearly 2,800, the vast majority in mainland China.
Health Minister Katsunobu Kato said in parliament the government would need to keep tabs on the condition of those previously discharged, as health experts analysed the implications of testing positive for the virus after an initial recovery.
The health ministry said that with the Diamond Princess still located south of Tokyo, about 240 foreign and Japanese crew members who have tested negative for the virus would disembark from the ship over the next few days.
Those with no symptoms would remain at a facility near Tokyo for further monitoring, the ministry said in a statement. An official could not immediately confirm the total number of crew on board the ship, which was carrying around 3,700 people when it first docked on Feb. 3.
Japan’s biggest trading group, Mitsubishi Corp, said it was telling all of its 3,800 staff in the country to work from home for two weeks starting Friday. — NNN-AGENCIES
